How Social Advertising is Reinventing Our Display Marketing Strategies

In today’s world, there is rarely a PPC Marketing Strategy that does not include or even toy with the notion of creating either a Facebook Ads or Twitter Ads campaign(s) at some point in the strategy life-cycle. Because of this, marketers are developing and testing different audience segments based on interests, household income, marital status, exercise habits, etc… Frankly, it has changed the landscape of online marketing as we know it. In this post, I will talk about the importance of leveraging the targeting abilities within Facebook Ads and how it can benefit your next Google display campaign.

Facebook Ad’s Demographic Targeting Abilities

The targeting abilities in both Google Display and Facebook Ads are similar with regard to Demographics and Topics/Placement. However, truth be told, Facebook is just far more superior to marketers based on their the deeper targeting options and more precise segmentation abilities. So without further ado, lets talk about the similarities and how marketers can harness what they have learned from Facebook and apply to Google.

As you can see from the screenshot below ↓, Google Display provides similar demographic targeting options as compared to Facebook. They allow marketers to choose Genders, Ages and even Parental Status. However, there is one major “elephant in the room” here that skews all of this and that is the dreadful UNKNOWN that we see in all of our data reports. These unknowns are basically people that Google can not identify to be associated with any or all of the targeted options selected. (In Facebook, they have the same problem). The common issue is that not all people want to disclose their information to the platforms, hence making it more of a “ballpark” than a “hole in one”

The Fuzziness with Google Topics Targeting

In Google Display, we have the ability to select specific topics and/or placements where we want to advertise our display banners and text ads. In the screenshot below ↓, I have provided a small example of how we can target the topic(s) of Coffee & Tea. But here’s the catch. In Google, we have an INTENT problem with our ability to choose specific audiences based on these very generalized topics. Meaning, the Coffee and Tea audience found in Google could be anything from Coffee Market Financials to the Health Benefits of Green Tea, but NOT specifically the Coffee and Tea drinkers. It is this little dilemma that forces marketers to add another layer of targeting to try and “hone in” on their preferred audience. That extra layer is called Placement targeting, but there are some extra steps that are needed to get the most out of it.

Extra Effort needed with Google Placement Targeting

Placement Targeting is the closest thing to to Facebook Ads in terms of reaching specific brands or interests that possess a higher level of intent to make a purchase. However, there are some common issues with placement targeting that marketers need to know before they start spending their ad dollars.

The partnering websites in this network are common Adsense customers. They can vary from being very authoritative and prominent like (CNN, Nytimes, etc..) all the way to suspicious arbitrage sites where all they do is drive up impressions and cost (yes, they still exist)

Marketers are often missing out on potential site partners because Google’s own search engine is not up to date on listing all of them (meaning, there are great sites that are a part of the Adsense network that are not listed in their directory). This hiccup forces marketers to do their own research to find those sites and they need to be added manually.

In Conclusion:

The targeting abilities within Facebook Ads have become an absolute “game changer” in the PPC marketing world. It has made such an impact that it’s starting to question Google’s own targeting abilities within the display network. The FBA platform allows advertisers to reach those avid Coffee and Tea drinkers by targeting everything from certain Brands, Flavors, Keurig Cups, Brewing types, etc… However, simply eliminating Display from their strategy is not a wise choice, considering the missed opportunities in reaching that additional audience. If there is one take-away from this article, it is to take what they have learned from Facebook Ads and apply them to their display campaigns.

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About the Author

Seasoned Internet Marketing Expert that has consulted for both Startups and Fortune 500 companies for over 10 years. In 2008, he founded AfterClicks Interactive - a Search Engine Marketing Firm that provides companies with Pay-Per-Click (PPC), Search Engine Optimization (SEO) and Social Media Marketing.